So, Belfast People Are Internet Illiterate Then?

Posted by Dawn Baird, Partner on Apr 29, 2009 in education, learning, technology | 6 comments

An article this week caugh my eye ire.  Internet bamboozles people in Belfast.  Can I beg to differ?  Only this week, I was listening to some international bod, who was investing in NI, as it has the highest qualified IT people this side of thon Danube.  But, perhaps he didn’t read this article.  He’d be sure to pull out, after sucking up this piece of highly patronising jibberish.

I’ve worked with people from Belfast, for whom the internet plays a large part in their profession, and have never come across anyone who’s appeared bamboozled.  Have you?  Please feel free to comment at will.

Of course, some people are confused about some issues of how to use the web.  But, then, aren’t some people confused about some issues of how to put up a shelf?  Or, how to cook a meal?

Who conducted and reported on this survey?  The article leaves out alot of pertinent detail.  It uses such sweeping comments, as to be utterly useless.  I think Mr Branson may have a difficult time getting any businesses or professionals paying for his Broadband Schools, so he will.  (I applaud him in advance if I’m proved wrong.)

Was  it conducted and written up by media snobs, who are young enough to have been taught to use the web at school, or who’re old enough to have attended some work-based training on it.  Or, was it carefully carried out by someone with real statistics, that weren’t manipulated to fit the thick paddy routine?  I’d love to know.

Who was interviewed for this survey?  How many people were interviewed?  What were their professions?  When was the interviewing done?  What questions were they asked?

This is exactly the type of mindless, clichéd journalism that gives Northern Ireland a bad name.  Give over.